Monthly Discussion - "The Law"

"The Law" - Frederic Bastiat

This month's discussion group was about Frederic Bastiat's "The Law". I had read this small book 5 months ago, and although I enjoyed it and it opened my eyes a little, reading it again for this discussion rang even truer. I found myself grabbing my pencil again and again, underlining and noting comments in the margin on almost every other page. The sign of a true classic is one that you want to read again and that every time you read it you learn something more. This is the case with this work. Bastiat presents sound arguments proclaiming the necessity of Law to remain within its proper bounds and solely provide for the protection of life liberty and property.

He denounces especially two things:

1. "Legal Plunder" and gives a measuring stick of how to detect it..."See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing that which the citizen himself cannot do without comitting a crime". Can you imagine if we were to eliminate all laws that don't measure up to this simple standard.

2. "False Philanthropy" - This is the concept that essentially causes men to rationalize the forcing of human thought and action "for their own good". Here are Bastiats words about this:

"The Seductive Lure of Socialism - Here I encounter the most popular fallacy of our times. It is not considered sufficient that the law should be just; it must be philanthropic. Nor is it sufficient that the law should guarantee to every citizen the free and inoffensive use of his faculties for physical, intellectual, and moral self-improvement. Instead, it is demanded that the law should directly extend welfare, education, and morality throughout the nation.
This is the seductive lure of socialism. And I repeat again: These two uses of the law are in direct contradiction to each other. We must choose between them. A citizen cannot at the same time be free and not free. "

Some great discussion came out of this reading. Topics ranged from rationalizing our own participation in social programs (paternity leave, EI, Health Care, etc) to private property rights. For example, we debated what the right approach would be to dealing with a neighbor who we observe bringing into his home implements and materials to fabricate an atomic bomb. Say we knew for sure that this is what he was building! What would be our duty and right in this situation? At what point would we infringe upon his right to private property? After some debate, I became convinced that we could NOT infringe upon that right. If we could, then it would make just as much sense to say I could go in and take all his knives and guns! As Bastiat claims in his book "Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.".

I highly reccamend this reading to anyone who wants to more fully understand the true and proper role of Law.